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Malaysia renews permit for Harakah

Malaysian authorities have renewed the permit of the Harakah daily newspaper run by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party after it promised to obey government guidelines.

The home ministry warned the party - which publishes about 120,000 copies of the paper twice a week - that it should sell the newspaper only at party offices and not at newsstands.

A total of three newspapers run by political parties in the alliance led by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim had been denied licence-renewals, as they were alleged to have violated laws and published false information.

The licences of the two other papers, however, have not been renewed.

Opposition leaders have accused the government of stifling free speech, and are planning to meet the home minister, Hishammuddin Hussein this week to resolve the dispute over the permits.

The minister had earlier claimed that the government was merely enforcing the law and not trying to clamp down on the opposition.